LUCKY follows the spiritual journey of a 90-year-old atheist and the quirky characters that inhabit his off the map desert town. Having outlived and out smoked all of his contemporaries, the fiercely independent Lucky finds himself at the precipice of life, thrust into a journey of self-exploration, leading towards that which is so often unattainable: enlightenment. Acclaimed character actor John Carroll Lynch’s directorial debut, “Lucky”, is at once a love letter to the life and career of Harry Dean Stanton as well as a meditation on mortality, loneliness, spirituality, and human connection.

If you are looking for a movie that hits you right in the feels it would be Lucky. Starring the now gone Harry Dean Stanton and even having David Lynch in a role, this movie deals with a whole lot of heavy stuff. Stanton’s character is old and never married. He has no kids. One day he has a fall and the doctor basically tells him this was going to happen sooner or later as he’s already outlived most people and people don’t tend to live as long as he’s been alive anyway. From there on out we watch “Lucky” deal with the acceptance that the end is getting a lot closer than he thinks and all the emotions that come with such an idea and reality. This isn’t a movie with lots of bells and whistles because it simply doesn’t need them. This is a character-driven and actor-driven film that delivers on just that.

Had I seen this film before the end of 2017 and had I did a list of the best films of that year in general, this is a movie I’d have easily tossed on the list and tossed pretty highly on there. This is a movie that makes you wonder just how you’ll handle getting old or just about life in general. There’s a lot of things going on in this movie with deep meaning behind them. Even if you don’t agree with everything the movie is selling all the time you’ll still find at least something to relate to or connect with. The movie might move a little slow for some, but that’s about the only bad thing I could say about it. It’s highly entertaining and highly impressive.